>>>>> Andrew Cagney writes:

Andrew> Even if you don't support it is there actual harm in letting people, 
Andrew> within reason, keep the core kernel working with the previous compiler? 
Andrew> I figure a bit of compiler diversity is good for the kernel's health :-)

	The newer tools fix other bugs in the toolchain.  Relocations.
Various features that GCC 3.x wants to use. Etc.

	If your assembler and linker are that old, you're going to end up
with a lot of "upgrade your tools" answers to bug reports.

David